Merkel wins SPD backing for coalition

Germany’s political crisis eases after fraught ballot clears way for negotiations to form new government

Germany moved closer to the formation of a new government after the Centre-left Social Democrat Party (SPD) backed coalition talks with Angela Merkel’s conservatives. The decision represents a reprieve for the chancellor after September’s elections ended in stalemate.

GERMANY moved a step closer to forming a government after months of political uncertainty yesterday, as the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) voted to begin coalition talks with Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

Around 600 SPD delegates gathered in Bonn yesterday for a fraught and at times emotional debate that lasted well into the afternoon. The final vote was 362 votes for, and 279 against, with one abstention, and followed a thorough recount after the first showing of hands was too close for officials to call.

During a fervid speech before the vote, Martin Schulz, the SPD leader, urged party delegates to make the right choice between “coalition negotiations or new elections”.

“People across Europe are watching this SPD party congress,” he said. “This is, entirely without a doubt, a key moment in the young history of our party.”

The SPD had previously planned to go into opposition following its worst election result since Germany became a federal republic in 1949, after its previous coalition with Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Delegates made a U-turn last month when exploratory coalition talks collapsed between conservatives, Greens and pro-business Free Democrats, throwing the government into doubt.

Ms Merkel told reporters in Berlin that she was pleased although there were “still many questions to clear up in detail and that will require intensive deliberation”.

She said a preliminary deal struck last week between the SPD and CDU would now guide the forthcoming formal discussions. Any final deal will still need to be put to a vote of the SPD’S delegates.

If coalition talks collapse again, Ms Merkel will have a severe political crisis on her hands. Calling a snap election or forming the first minority government in post-war history would be among her unfavourable options.

Sunday’s vote was originally expected to be a formality given the preliminary deal. But the outcome had become increasingly unpredictable in recent days, as the party’s Left and youth factions argued SPD policies were being trampled on.

A grass roots rebellion was led against a “yes” vote by Kevin Kühnert, a 28-year-old political novice who has been compared to Jeremy Corbyn by German media. Mr Kühnert had argued that the party needed to leave power to revitalise itself after four years as the CDU’S junior partner.

Following the vote, Mr Schulz pledged to negotiate hard for more concessions on labour, health and migration policies, adding that the agreed-upon prerequisites were “no coalition agreement”.

Europe’s largest economy has been effectively without a leadership since the Sept 24 election, forcing Germany to take a back seat in European and global affairs. A negative vote would have plunged the chancellor into the most serious crisis of her career, prolonging the political deadlock hampering Germany on the global stage.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, dependent upon Ms Merkel’s support in driving forward his ambitious plans for EU reform, had spoken out in support of a new grand coalition between the SPD and the CDU, the country’s two biggest parties.

In a joint video podcast last night commemorating the Elysée Treaty signed 55 years ago, Mr Macron and Ms Merkel said they planned to strengthen Franco-german cooperation, and would draw up a new bilateral agreement on EU and international issues.

“We are doing that in order to bring the people in our countries even closer together. And we do it to give the whole of Europe a new boost, to make it even stronger,” Ms Merkel said.

‘People across Europe are watching this congress. This is ... a key moment in the young history of our party’

Rarely does so much hang on the internal wranglings of a party which suffered electoral humiliation only four months ago. But yesterday’s agonised decision by Germany’s Socialist SPD to pursue coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU is highly significant – for Germany, for the EU and for Brexit. Despite winning just 20 per cent of the vote in last September’s election, the SPD has emerged as the only barrier to minority government or fresh elections. Neither option would have bolstered Mrs Merkel’s position, already weakened by her own’s party’s lacklustre performance and the rise of the nationalist AFD party.

Not that a new Grand Coalition, as this bargain between Germany’s two main political powers is known, will re-gild her once gleaming reputation as the sole political colossus to bestride Europe. Mrs Merkel is indeed weakened, and the SPD, empowered by its strong negotiating position, will extract a high price for renewing a partnership which recently proved toxic to its fortunes. For Germany, that will possibly mean Left-wingers in charge of the powerful finance ministry, perhaps the foreign ministry too. For the EU, it means a strong new integrationist Europhile agenda that will be music to French President Macron’s ears. And for Brexit, it means – potentially – an EU more determined than ever to forge a common identity for its existing members, and to punish departing members. The SPD still needs to ratify the final deal, but the likelihood is that Germany will now get a new coalition government. The last one was unsatisfactory. In an increasingly fragmented German polity, this feels like twist or bust for the established order.